Blog #1

What do you want to get out of the course?  What interests you about “green politics?” What do you want to explore?

From this course, I hope to learn in depth about the four main topic areas: green political thought, green community, green leadership, and green action. I hope that having a strong understanding of green political thought will help me to look at political issues through a new lens. I hope that I can translate the other three topics into practice and action through being an active member of the class, my Sustainable Carolina project team, and the Green Learning Community. I have been wanting to be involved with Sustainable Carolina since I started attending their events last year, and I am grateful that this class is providing me that opportunity. As a student that has benefitted so much from their programs, I am excited to find a way to give back. I am interested in learning about what “green politics” really means! When I saw the title of this class, I thought it would be about environmental policy, but now I am coming to understand that it is about green political thought. So, I am interested in learning to view the environmental and public health issues that I am passionate about (within the field of environmental justice and health disparities), through a green political viewpoint. I have gotten a taste of green leadership and community through workshops in the GLC class, and I think it is a wonderful approach that should be used more often. Some topics that I would like to explore include deep ecology, spiritual ecology, and anything related to food! I am working on developing my senior thesis, and my plan is to create a program that would educate elementary and middle school students on environmental health and sustainable food systems through gardening. I would love to develop this idea through this class!